Summary of Study Session 41

In Study Session 41, you have learned that:

1. In the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system, important communicable diseases within a community are integrated and reported to higher levels in the health system, using the usual human and other resources of the health facility.
2. The advantages of the IDSR system are that it is cheap and provides a training opportunity for health workers. It also makes data about all priority diseases available at a central level.
3. Priority diseases have been identified in each country to be included in the IDSR system. They are major causes of illness and death in the population, they can easily cause epidemics, they can be controlled and prevented, and they can be identified using standard or community case definitions.
4. There are 20 priority diseases of public health importance included in the IDSR in Ethiopia. They are classified as immediately or weekly reportable diseases.
5. Immediately reportable diseases should be reported to a higher level within 30 minutes, using verbal methods (radio, phone, text), followed by written reports using the official immediate reporting format. Weekly reports are sent every Monday using the official weekly reporting format.
6. As a Health Extension Practitioner, you must keep a close watch for possible cases of priority diseases in your catchment area, and quickly report any suspected or unusual cases or clusters of symptoms to the nearby Health Centre for investigation and management.
7. Standard case definitions of priority diseases are applied at Health Centres and hospitals. Simplified community case definitions have been developed for use by Health Extension Practitioners/Workers, community health volunteers, traditional healers and birth attendants, and community members. It is part of your role to educate your community on the community case definitions of priority diseases, so that they can be detected and reported as soon as possible.